Vikings Game Day!

The Minnesota Vikings open the 2025 season tonight against the Bears in Chicago. Having to wait until Monday night for the season-opener is a tough deal. Being a Vikings fan has meant waiting. Waiting for a first Super Bowl title. Waiting for a franchise quarterback successor to Fran Tarkenton. I’ve been waiting for a Super Bowl return, let alone a win, since 1976. I’ve been waiting for the Vikings next long-term franchise quarterback since Tarkenton retired after the 1978 season. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting. Even with all this waiting experience, I’ve hated waiting for Monday night and the Vikings season-opening game against the Bears. 

Is the long quarterback and championship wait inching to an end? I started following the Vikings during their “glory days.” I fell for the team during a stretch in which they attended three Super Bowls in four years. Each season-opener during those years was the first step in a Super Bowl march. As an impressionable youth, I assumed every season would be like that. Perhaps those great early days are the reason for my optimism for every Vikings season. I’ve been optimistic for Vikings teams that, deep down, I knew had no shot at the playoffs. For obvious reasons, the Vikings have an exceptionally cynical fan base. I’ve always been an outlier. Despite 50+ years of frustrations, I’ve maintained annual optimism. I believed that young quarterbacks Tommy Kramer, Rich Gannon, Daunte Culpepper, and Teddy Bridgewater would follow Fran Tarkenton to Canton. I had high hopes for the fun seasons directed by senior throwers Warren Moon, Randall Cunningham, and Brett Favre. In all those years of optimism, usually misguided, I was never more optimistic than I am for the Vikings window that’s about to open.  There’s about 80 reasons for that optimism. It starts with head coach Kevin O’Connell and his coaches. It continues with quarterback J.J. McCarthy, receiver Justin Jefferson and their 51 teammates. McCarthy has yet to throw a regular season pass, yet I believe, truly believe, that he’ll kiss a Lombardi just as he did that college championship trophy. He’s only ever played for titles and I don’t see that changing at the professional level. I also don’t see O’Connell’s coaching allowing his young quarterback to fail. As much as I can’t wait to see McCarthy throw that first regular season pass, I can’t wait to see defensive coordinator Brian Flores unleash this year’s version of his defense. I can’t wait for this game. I can’t wait for this season. SKOL!